The best, and worst, airlines for redeeming miles and points

The Wall Street Journal this morning has the results of a study by consultant IdeaWorks Co. on how easy it is to cash in your frequent flier miles or points for a free airline ticket. The domestic winner: Southwest Airlines, with a 99.3 percent redemption rate. Southwest is the largest carrier at Albany International Airport.

The airline it displaced from the top position at Albany, US Airways, finished last among domestic carriers, with seats available for just 25.7 percent of the requests. But even that rate was an improvement over the rate from previous studies, the Journal noted. Second worst, by the way, was Delta Air Lines, with a redemption rate of 27.1 percent.

The results are in Scott McCartney’s The Middle Seat column. The story is here, although the Wall Street Journal typically limits access to subscribers.